Minnesota Lynx meet their match Friday in Phoenix

A happy and relieved Minnesota Lynx team laeves the court after holding off San Antonio to win 88-84 at Target Center in Minneapolis on Thursday, August 21, 2014. The Lynx held off a fourth period charge by San Antonio to win 88-84. From left: Janel McCarville, Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

"Phoenix is a nightmare in having to game-plan for them, in terms of who do you stop," Petersen said. "But then you realize, hey, they're a lot like us. We're mirror images of one another. In some cases, you lay awake worried about if you'll play well. This is a case where we lay awake because we're so excited to play."

A showdown of the WNBA's best teams begins Friday night with Game 1 of the best-of-three series in Phoenix. Game 2 is Sunday afternoon at Target Center. If a deciding Game 3 is needed, it would be Tuesday in Phoenix.

"Finally, we can focus in on Phoenix and not just talk about it," Lynx forward Seimone Augustus said.

Minnesota is in the conference finals for the fourth consecutive season. The Lynx won WNBA championships in 2011 and '13 and finished second in 2012. The Lynx, who have won their past nine playoff games dating to last season, survived an injury-riddled regular season to because the first team in league history to record four consecutive seasons with at least 25 victories.

While the No. 2-seeded Lynx have been the gold standard during their championship-series runs, Phoenix did them one better this season. The top-seeded Mercury won a league-record 29 games while losing just five. More importantly at this point: The Mercury were 3-1 against the Lynx.

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Diana Taurasi was her usual superstar self this season, finishing second to Minnesota's Maya Moore in MVP balloting, and second-year center Brittney Griner was a force in the post and was the league's defensive player of the year.

The Lynx don't mind that they are the underdog or that they have to start a championship series on the road for the first time in four years.

"It's a challenge we feel ready for," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "The way we're playing now is the best of the season in terms of our ability to compete with a team that had a record-breaking season. Twenty-nine wins. We thought we were pretty good the past three years, but the best we did was 27 wins. (Phoenix) did it in grand fashion. They established themselves as the best team in the league for the regular season."

Minnesota swept Phoenix in two games in last season's conference finals.

"There's no such thing as a Western Conference champion during the regular season," Reeve said. "It just means you earned home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The best in the West has yet to be decided. We're the defending Western Conference champions; we have a mentality of being the best in the West. That goal is still in front of us. We know we have to go out there and take it."

Both teams swept their first-round playoff series, Phoenix over Los Angeles and Minnesota over San Antonio. The final 30 minutes against the Stars in Game 2 on Saturday might have been the Lynx's best stretch of play of this season.

"We think momentum is going to carry over," forward Rebekkah Brunson said. "We're going to channel that level of play from the very beginning. We aren't focused on the hoopla, but it is a big one. Everyone is up for it."

Said Augustus: "(This series has been) brewing like gumbo, cooking up and getting the flavors together. It isn't checkers this game; it's more chess. You have to strategically protect the queen to get the job done."